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Clinton says election isn't about her

Hillary Rodham Clinton had a simple message
Tuesday for her still loyal supporters: This election isn't about
her.

The former first lady ceded the nomination that was almost hers
in a prime-time speech to Democratic delegates, closing another
chapter in a long, improbable political career that took her from
supportive spouse to political powerhouse.

She was warmly embraced by delegates split between herself and
Barack Obama in the primary. Any who were still angry over her loss
were drowned out in applause when she opened her speech by
declaring herself "a proud supporter of Barack Obama."

She exhorted her backers - "my sisterhood of the traveling
pantsuits," she called them - to remember who was most important
in this campaign.

"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just
for me?" she said. She urged them instead to remember Marines who
have served their country, single mothers, families barely getting
by on minimum wage and other struggling Americans.

"You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured
the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership,"
Clinton told the delegates. "No way. No how. No McCain."

The line drew applause from Obama, who was watching from
Billings, Mont.

Clinton spoke on the eve of the delegate roll call in which both
she and Obama will be nominated for president. But under a deal
between the two camps, only some delegates will get the opportunity
to cast a historic vote for either a woman or a black man before
the split decision will be cut off in favor of unanimous consent
for Obama.

But at the 11th hour, many details were unclear - which states
would get a chance to vote, whether Clinton herself would cut it
off in acclamation for Obama and if floor demonstrations would be
tolerated.

The dealmaking and lack of direction left Clinton supporters
frustrated. Clinton fueled confusion by refusing to publicly
instruct her delegates how to vote, though she said she'll back
Obama when the time comes. She planned to meet with her delegates
Wednesday.

All the Clintons, a longtime royal family of Democratic
politics, were on hand to pass the torch to Obama. Clinton was
introduced by her daughter Chelsea, while her husband watched from
a box seat above the Arkansas delegation. Not everyone with a
ticket could get in to hear Clinton after fire marshals declared
the hall filled to capacity.

The convention hall was brimming with delegates wearing Clinton
gear. There were Hillary T-shirts, buttons and stickers. Some
delegates brought signs promoting Clinton for president. Many wore
white shirts to mark the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage.

"My mother was born before women could vote," Clinton reminded
them. "But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother
for president."

The Obama campaign gave Clinton her due. Before she took the
stage Tuesday night, Obama's campaign distributed "Hillary" signs
throughout the Pepsi Center. But only sentences into Clinton's
speech, those signs were quickly swapped out for others proclaiming
either "Obama" or "Hillary" on one side, and "Unity" on the
other.

Some Clinton delegates weren't ready for so quick a pivot.

"We love you Hillary!" some shouted.

Jennie Lou Leeder, a Clinton delegate from Llado, Texas, said
Clinton "was so good tonight, I was crying."

Did her speech help to unify the party?

Former US president Bill Clinton at the DNCPAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

"It's not Hillary's job to bring this party together," Leeder
said. "It's Barack Obama's job to bring this party together."

Daniel Kagan, a Clinton delegate from Englewood, Colo., said he
felt pride and sadness watching Clinton speak. He was proud of her
accomplishments, but saddened by the realization that her campaign
was truly over.

Nevertheless, Kagan said, the speech will help to unify the
party.

"I know that it's changed attitudes," Kagan said. "I saw some
of my colleagues standing up and applauding for Obama for the first
time."

It was the culmination of an emotional day for Clinton
loyalists, still wondering how the final act would play out in
Wednesday's roll call vote and whether they would have a chance to
give their candidate one last show of support.

Clinton on the podiumPAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Party leaders said they feared a nationally televised floor
demonstration Wednesday that would underscore party divisions.

"It seems to be a little more of a problem than I
anticipated," former Democratic Party chairman Don Fowler told the
AP. "All you need is 200 people in that crowd to boo and stuff
like that and it will be replayed 900 times. And that's not what
you want out of this."